View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoTom Dodge | DispatchPastor Joe Johnson, left, 94, jokes around with volunteer Jeff Baker, center, and John White at Inner City Ministries, 842 Sullivant Ave. White had just donated buckets of food to the mission in Franklinton.

The Rev. Joe Johnson was a bit irritated that
The Dispatch wanted to publish a story about him.

“ I’m not a bragger,” he said. And, he noted, he was already in the newspaper, “
about 50 years ago."

Then, after consenting to an interview, the pastor scolded Inner City Ministries
volunteer Jeff Baker for saying too many nice things about him.

Johnson barely smiled, but it was obvious he was kidding. He’s the kind of
pastor who will embrace a homeless man in a big hug, even if the man is stupid drunk, volunteers
say. He has been known to give his coat to someone who doesn’t have one.

Johnson shrugged off the praise.

“ This is my calling, working with depressed people,” he said.

And now, his calling is complete. Johnson is retiring after 72 years of
ministry, 22 of them at the mission in Franklinton that gives food and clothing to the poor.

The initial plan was to retire Jan. 1, but he’s waiting to see if he can get out
of his apartment lease first. His doctor has recommended assisted living.

His absence will be felt deeply at the mission, where he goes every day to hand
out food and instructions. On Wednesday, he helped pour cheese and wheat crackers into plastic
bags, munching on them as he went.

Johnson's body is frail, but his memory is strong. He rattles off his life
history with ease. He spent 35 months in the Army as a young man but wasn’t shipped off to World
War II because of a broken foot.

He was pastor of Newport Church of Christ in Christian Union in Madison County
for 24 years. He spent seven years working as a district superintendent for his denomination, the
Churches of Christ in Christian Union. He was pastor at Circleville Bible College, now Ohio
Christian University, after that, and then he traveled for three years, preaching in various
churches.

“ In 1990, I came here,” he said. “And here I sit.”

He wanted it known that a lot of other pastors and volunteers helped him run the
mission all these years. He didn’t do it alone, he said. He has been alone in other ways, he
acknowledged with sadness in his voice. His wife left him in 1950, and he never remarried or had
children.

Cherie Gilmore, 38, of Franklinton, said Johnson has been a surrogate father to
her and a grandfather to her five children.

“ I grew up without a father, he grew up without a daughter,” she said. “He is
my best friend.”

Gilmore met Johnson 17 years ago when she brought her kids to the mission to
eat. Over the years, she has both received help and volunteered it.

“ I never knew God before I met Pastor Joe,” she said. “He gave me a life of
love and support.”

Baker, 47, was living in woods when he met Johnson about six years ago. The
pastor would lend him money, Baker said, but instead of bus fare, he’d buy alcohol. Johnson knew
that, Baker said, but always prays the people he helps will do the right thing. Because of Johnson
and the ministry, Baker said he’s a different man now.

Johnson's plans are simple. He wants to start a Bible study in his new
assisted-living complex, wherever that might be.